J-Doc

I do have a lot of respect and love for older boats, antique baits, and generally.....old stuff. I respect where we have come from to where we are now. The differences are amazing. Plus old boats are just cool in my mind. Especially when they are restored to use and appear in great condition. This wasn't old. It was just junk! Like I said..........will make a decent catfish rod. If it breaks..........I'll laugh!

Are you taking a stab at my old boat? Are you saying that she's "ancient"? Is that what you're saying??? (my poke at Goodfellas) Yes, I was going to throw it back in the lake and decided to be better than that and take it out of the lake and throw it in the trash. I just couldn't do it. The reel was toast but the rod cleaned up OK and as long as the eyes on the rod are not going to fray a line, I figured I can sand down the cork and apply some tape can call it a "backup plan". :-) THe poor rod may be cursed......we will see.

You were at Blue Springs...........that's why. Not nearly as busy this time of year down there as the main lake. Can be at certain times of year but it's not nearly as "wild" as the main lake.

I can see Quantum now... "What did you do to this? Drop it in the lake and find it later?" "How'd you know that??". Lol!

Well said Nathan. Oh and Sunday evenings for me have been as bad as 2-5pm Sat. It varies. Seems people are wanting the late afternoon now thinking its cooler. And the fact that its the end of the weekend and people are trying to maximize their daylight before going back to work.

Here is a quick little video that I made Saturday morning. I found some fish in ranging depths between 10-20ft in this one particular area and they did not want to bite my crankbait. As I was drifting down the bank, I dropped a Texas rigged worm down and would twitch it like a dropshot just off the bottom. I had a few nibbles so I switched over to a jigging spoon. I was getting good sonar shots and decided to make a video. Reading the Wire To Fish article, I learned I should have pulled the bait up and not popped it up. Anyway, here is a quick video showing jigging but it works for any vertical presentation including drop shot. http://youtu.be/H4gBf4xMWVo

That is excellent information and with example screen shots. Thank you for sharing! This is exactly the type of information I was hoping to collect.

Yeah, I won't open that Pandora's box on things we did when we were younger. This REALLY caught my eye. I was driving by and looking to see if there was a late afternoon topwater bite in PC and saw this at the old PC Road launch. I whipped out the phone and took a couple of photos. It amazes me at how little the pleasure boaters know about boating and how much the fishing community seems to "get it". F&F and I witnessed many morons at the Rocky Branch area mid-day Saturday. We were both trolling the same run when a wake boat went by less than 100ft from me pulling their 5-6yr old little girl. Mom and Dad both looked at me with rods out on both sides and me just shaking my head. They just didn't care. "They had a right to do whatever they want where they want"....I can hear it now. Oh and how can I forget the Scarab boat the crossed my lines behind my boat and when he came back, he had the bow up about 45 degrees so the jetskiers behind him could jump his massive wake. And for some reason..........there is an unmistakable connection between rich bald men in their 50's and expensive boats that make the biggest wakes. GRRRRrrrrrrrrrr...........

Grow up to be a baitcaster!! Bahahahahahaha!!! That's a good one. Sorry, I had to edit the original post. Voice to text only works so well with my deep southern accent. LOL!

And my wife wonders why I dislike ski boats. This moron was pulling a skier in the dark. I had to adjust the contrast on the photos just so you could see the ski boat pulling a skier with no anchor or navigation lights on. Not only is the skier in danger, but so is the moron that doesn't obey the law. Its goof balls like this that make me wish we actually had to have a boaters operating license. I would gladly go take the course and get mine if needed if it would somehow educate people who do not know any better. My hope is that it would at least make the lake safer for all of us. Rant switch off.........

Is there a slot or length limit for this? I caught this trolling with a reef runner about 28 feet deep and Rocky Branch. All jokes aside I cleaned the rod up as the reel was frozen solid. I used some steel wool on the rod I and the eyes are smooth and polished. For the cork I have wrapped it with electrical tape and it seems to make a pretty decent rod actually. I'm very surprised. It's an Abu Garcia Conolon. Will make a nice catfish rod hahaha!

How is it different than the maps at Walmart or Navionics maps? Road beds and foundations have not moved. :-). Unless there is a ton of "more information" ......seems as if you would get the same info.

From a historical perspective only......I would love to see such a thing. My Navionics app gives me all I need to know.

I want to go back and try a nightlight but with all of the rain, I think that part of the river is a bit too stained. The light won't glow as far as it would in clearer water. I'm thinking by this weekend, anywhere above Horseshoe Bend to the dam would be good to try. The mudline will be moving slowly and I'm not sure where it begins but I think it will move down river if we get more rain between now and this weekend.

LOL! Yeah, I took a play out of F&F's "fishing report book". LOL!

So the kids are out of town and the wife had dinner plans which meant I had a free-pass to the lake! With all of this rain, I figured the bite could be anywhere from dead slow to mediocre. I was unsure of which end of the lake to fish. I wanted to try for stripers at the dam but knew that it would be a tough bite. That and I only had a few hours to play so I wanted to maximize my efforts. I have only fished the river end of the lake a once or twice this year so I loaded the gear/boat and headed to Hickory. Date: 072413 Time: between 6:30 – 9:30PM Temp: freakin’ hot even though low humidity and sun was going down (in the 80’s) Humidity: between 50-60% Weather was better between 7:30-9PM Now that Feathers&Fins has taught me the ways of the trolling ninja……I naturally went to it first thing. As soon as I left the ramp and idled out to the channel, I immediately noticed a distinct thermocline between 20-40ft. It showed up as a thick band of “dots” in the middle of my graph. Nothing below, little above. I didn’t think of it at the time but it would have made the perfect thermocline example to share with others. So the location will remain quiet for now (as I plan to go back soon) but I trolled a 400-500yrd shoreline and I found fish after fish after fish on the graph. Not just a few, stacks of them suspended in 18-20ft range just above the thermocline level for optimum cool water. I don’t think I stopped seeing fish on the graph in that long stretch of shoreline. I had two rigs out with a 7m Flicker and a deep diver Shad Rap with the Shad Rap on the deeper side. I varied my speeds between 2.5mph up to 3.5mph. Anything above that seemed like it was pointless as the water was very stained and clarity was less than 3-4ft. So at 20ft, I didn’t feel they wanted to chase a 69 Camaro SS as it buzzed by their head at warp speed.…in the dark. So I found what appeared to be lots of small groups of bait balls (guessing 3-5ft diameter pods). I found a small group of crappie, some really large fish arches in places (both structure scan at 455kHz and my traditional sonar marked large fish arches) so there was a good mixture of fish. After no bites, I decided to explore some of my old spots. Did I mention there were hardly any boats on the water? It was nice, the water was calm and the lake was practically all to myself! That’s rare….. After checking some old spots that didn’t show fish on the graph, no point in fishing that so I turned back towards my shoreline. On the way back, I stopped at a log jam near what I thought was deep water which turned out to be shallow. After spending 10 mins un-hanging a jig, I left that spot and trolled down the bank with a carolina rig and my buddy Steve Park’s Rage Craw (gosh I love those things). Picked up a squeaker spotted bass and spent some time getting the hook out (he choked it). Then I decided to break out the crankbait……………that’s where things got fun in a hurry! So, I was using Seagaur 10lb fluorocarbon, 7ft H20 Express cranking rod, BPS Pro Qualifer baitcasting reel. All of which means absolutely nothing. J I was using a baitcasting combo and a medium diving crankbait. That’s all that matters! LOL! I just get a laugh when the pros start naming their sponsors and the specifics. Ole Aaron Martins is OCD about specific gear differences. Sometimes, it matters, sometimes it don’t. Ooop….off topic. So I started cranking this gravel shoreline with about a 30-40 degree sloped bank. I noticed shad were popping the surface so I knew bait was around. After about the 6th or 8th cast, I felt a fish and set the hook. Didn’t feel like much……..till I saw it. A nice 3lb largemouth casually coming up to the boat. “OH CRAP!! GOOD FISH!!! GET THE NET!!!!” That’s a good thing to say to yourself….it’s a good feeling! So I landed that one, put her in the livewel and pumped the well full and turned on the aerator. Now for the next party guest…. About 3 casts later, a keeper spotted bass….nice and fat. Into the live well to join the party. A few casts later, a dink spot slaps at the crankbait and foul hooks himself. I feel bad for the guy and turn him loose unharmed…….well other than that sore-spot he has for a few days. Then wouldn’t you know it………..the one ski boat I see is slowly plowing up the river ( and I do mean plowing) as he has the bow at a 45-degree angle and cruising at about 10-15mph. After his wake washes the shoreline with a bombardment of waves………….that pretty much shut down the bite in that shoreline. Gravel sloped bank with bait……..that was the key. So off I go as it starts to get dark and I go back to my trolling shoreline. I start making a few casts, hang up my crankbait……get it unhung and then as I’m casting (after I checked the line) SNAP!!!! Off goes my crankbait into the darkness. Line pops and I see where she landed. I hit the trolling motor on high and she sinks before I can get to her. (I thought it floated as it was a wood bait) SO there I am without my magic crankbait with fish all around me and in front of me with the right shore line type and the right depth. I have a massive backlash that will require cutting to remove, my bait is gone, and I’m not happy. So I pull out my other rod rigged with a Flicker shad thinking, I’ll try this before I leave. Well………due to line twists, that was impossible (side affect from trolling). Then I pick up a worm rod, get a few bites and then I decided to call it a night early as it was already pitch black. My spot would have been an excellent night fishing spot and I plan on going back and giving it a try. Here are my new fishing buddies from this adventure. 3lb Largemouth 3lb LM and 1.5lb spot A few graph shots of the shoreline. These are not the best shots but the glare was so bad, I struggled getting good photos.

So what is a crawler harness and how does it work?

I heard the meat was a different texture and not a flaky white meat. Is that correct?

The Navionics app on my phone shows road beds, foundations, etc. I only use it as described above. Having the 1ft intervals for contour showed me some things I was unaware of though due to higher detail. It's a good app and I use it on occasion but only to plan ahead or when I key in on something, I look on the map to find more places like it.

Yes. It does. I hear there is a lengthy way to transfer them into your GPS unit.

Its by Navionics and its for sonar units with GPS. You can get the app on your phone for only $10. It does NOT have super secret spots. Just gives you more defined contour lines at 1ft intervals vs 10ft spacing. Can help you find areas once you know a particular depth range. It also has road beds, and other things that are a bit more defined than the printed map. You can also save waypoints and such.

I'll need more samples then! Lol

Maybe he will slide me a sample of some gar and I'll grill/smoke it on the Holland and let everybody know how it turns out how's that?

Well that's true getting kids into fishing is far more important

So if you know there are fish there just keep trolling that spot at different speeds until they bite?